Category Archives: Uncategorized

Yearning to Breathe Free: Free Outdoor Band Concert on the Rozsa Lawn

Bring your lawn chairs, bring your blankets: The Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts is proud to present “Yearning to Breathe Free,” a free outdoor concert put on by Michael Christianson, Michigan Tech’s Director of Bands, with performances by the Superior Wind Symphony, in which they will celebrate the music of great composers who emigrated to the United States. Come spend a beautiful fall evening full of band music on Sunday, September 24^th, 7:00 PM, on the Rozsa/Walker lawn. If it rains, the show will be inside, in the Rozsa Center.

According to Christainson, “Many of the great composers of iconic American band music came to the United States from overseas. They were drawn by the words of Emma Lazarus, inscribed in 1883 on the base of the Statue of Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

We will perform mostly original works for winds by great composers who were immigrants to the US: Irving Berlin, Antonin Dvorak, Sergei Prokofiev, Darius Milhaud, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, Percy Grainger, Chen Yi, Tania Leon , plus a Sousa march dedicated to his overseas friends! Bring your blanket, your dinner, and spread out on the lawn as you enjoy a classic Band moment with Michigan Tech’s Superior Wind Symphony! Concert starts at 7:00PM, sunset starts at 8:01.”

For more information please visit us online at mtu.edu/rozsa

Band, Music, Superior Wind Symphony, Visual and Performing Arts

Russian National Ballet Theatre at Rozsa

The Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts presents two magical nights of incomparable Russian ballet. Direct from Moscow, the Russian National Ballet Theatre, featuring fifty of Russia’s finest dancers, will perform three timeless ballet pieces, “Romeo and Juliet” and “Carmen” on Tuesday, Jan. 24 and “Giselle” on Wednesday, Jan. 25. Shows start at 7:30 p.m. each evening.

According to Rozsa Center Director of Programming Mary Jennings, “… the Russian National Ballet Theatre is an institution in Russian Ballet. Legendary Bolshoi principal dancer Elena Radchenko, the founder of the Russian National Ballet Theatre, has focused the company on upholding the grand, national tradition of the major Russian ballet works.”

On the first of two nights, they will perform the full-length “Romeo and Juliet” by Sergei Prokofiev based on Shakespeare’s play. Performed in one act, the ballet tells the story of Romeo and Juliet, the quintessential star-crossed lovers. Prokofiev’s music is paired with original choreography by Marius Petipa, the “godfather of Russian ballet.”

In the second act they will perform “Carmen,” a full-length ballet also in one act. Music by Rodion Shchedrin based on the classic opera by Georges Bizet with choreography by Alberto Alonso. Carmen, a passionate, free-spirited woman, is caught in a love triangle between Don José and a bullfighter. The impetus and cause for the creation of the ballet Carmen was the cherished dream of the celebrated Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya to depict the highly strung and riveting character of Carmen in a ballet.

On the second evening, the Russian National Ballet Theatre performs the full-length, tragic ballet “Giselle,” about a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart after discovering her lover is betrothed to another.

“Giselle” was composed by Adolphe Adam, and is a romantic jewel of Petipa. “Giselle” was first seen in Moscow in 1843, just two years after its creation in Paris, and a year after it was staged in St. Petersburg.

Ballet, Carmen, Giselle, Romeo & Juliet, Rosza, Russian National Ballet, Theatre, Visual and Performing Arts, vpa

Joel Neves is a Distinguished Teaching Award Finalist

The William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning seeks input for its annual Distinguished Teaching Awards, which recognize outstanding contribution to the instructional mission of the University.

Based on more than 50,000 student rating of instruction responses, 11 finalists have been identified for the 2016 awards. The selection committee is soliciting comments from students, staff, faculty and alumni to aid in its deliberation process.

Among the finalists in the Associate Professor / Professor Category is Associate Professor Joel Neves.

Comments on the nominees are due by Friday, March 18, 2016, and can be completed online.

From Tech Today, by by Jackson Center For Teaching and Learning.

KSO Fall Recital

Did you know that every fall, the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra (KSO) performs more intimate, free (dontaion suggested), informal concerts at a local church?

The symphony continues their “Fall KSO Recital Series” tomorrow. The Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, with Joel Neves, conductor, has been a mainstay of the Upper Peninsula arts scene for more than thirty years.

The KSO counts among its musicians Michigan Tech students, faculty, staff, community artists and guest professionals from throughout the Upper Midwest.

The Fall Recital Series continues at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 19, 2015, at the Portage Lake United Church in Houghton. The suggested donation is $5, taken at the door.

From Tech Today, by VPA.

t.b.d. Works in Progress, Rozsa Gallery

“t.b.d.,” a mid-semester showcase of student work-in-progress by visual arts students, will host public receptions 5-7 p.m. Thursday, October 22, 2015, and 2-4:30 p.m. Saturday, October 24, 2015. See the arts process, talk with students about their work and ideas, enjoy the new Rozsa “gallery b.”

This event is part of “Project Learning Lab,” an innovative, alternative arts classroom developed by Visual Arts faculty for 2015-16.

From Tech Today, by Visual and Performing Arts.

To Be Determined…

Michigan Tech students in Lisa Johnson’s sculpture class walk visitors through their unfinished works at the student exhibition “t.b.d.” Sunday.

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” Opens Tomorrow

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” a play by Rajiv Joseph, explores how the lives of two American Marines and an Iraqi translator are forever changed by an encounter with a quick-witted tiger who haunts the streets of war-torn Baghdad attempting to find meaning, forgiveness and redemption amidst the city’s ruins.

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” will be performed by Tech Theatre in the McArdle Theater for six performances, Thursday, October 15, 2015, through Saturday, October 17, 2015, and October 22 – 24, 2015. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. each evening.

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” examines both the power and the perils of human nature.

From Tech Today, by Tech Theatre.

Tech Theatre Company to perform “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” Oct. 15-17 and 22-24 in McArdle Theater

The New York Times writes, “Set in the chaotic first days of the American invasion of Iraq, this boldly imagined, harrowing and surprisingly funny drama considers the long afterlife of violent acts, as well as the impenetrable mysteries of the afterlife itself.”

According to Director Roger Held, “While depicting a devastatingly cruel and venal world [the tiger] offers hope of redemption and meaningful life after a history of complacency and compliance. What we must do is not easy; we must find and risk being ourselves…”

Production on the 1913 Copper Strike at Calumet Theatre

Associate Professor Patricia Helsel is directing Red Jacket 1913, a special production in collaboration with the Calumet Theatre. This play uniquely presents the history and conflict surrounding the 1913 copper strike, focusing on one family’s struggles. While fictional, Red Jacket 1913 is based entirely on historic events.

Dennis Kerwin, former VPA faculty, heads the cast comprised mostly of community members, while Jonah Mueller, a Tech sound design major, and Dollcie Webb, majoring in theatre and electronic media performance, are both involved in the play’s production.

Performances are tomorrow and Friday at 7:30 p.m. Contact the Calumet Theatre box office for tickets at 337-2610.

From Tech Today.

Pep Band at K-Day

A day to celebrate the Keweenaw

This year, students were greeted by crowd favorite tunes by the Michigan Tech Pep Band, and a rock band eventually took the stage to pump out popular music from the last decade.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Stacey Kukkonen.

Rozsa debuts 2012-13 season

Interspersed throughout the season are also numerous local classical music concerts, with multiple concerts by the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, which will also perform with the Hampton [Rock] String Quartet. Jazz aficionados can attend the Jazz Showcase in the fall or the Don Keranen Memorial Jazz Concert in the spring, and there will also be a pair of choral concerts by the Tech Concert Choir and the Michigan Tech Chamber Singers.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Zach Kukkonen.